Amanda Knox defended her innocence in an exclusive interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo after an Italian court ruling on the second appeal in the case said she was not only guilty in the murder of her former roommate, Meredith Kercher, but that she dealt the fatal blow.

Burleigh believes Knox is being held accountable for the murder because prosecutors don't want to admit their mistakes stemming from the very beginning of the case.

"When prosecutors make mistakes they don't like to turn around and admit it," Burleigh said.

"Perugia is a walled mountain town ... When a stranger comes to town, something happens, they need to get the crime solved ... What happened here is the Italian system, unfortunately, is protecting itself."

At this point, Burleigh said, Italian judges are taking a second look at the earlier mistakes to make things "look right" in light of global scrutiny.

"I'm compelled from the amount of information that I collected for my book over the years to say that the latest report from these judges is completely illogical. It's laughably illogical.”

The information is based on testimony from Rudy Guede, the third person convicted in the murder, and it is "highly unreliable" because "he had a vested interest in cutting a deal ... and his fingerprints were in Kercher's purse."

According to Burleigh, there is no DNA or physical evidence that puts Knox at the murder.

As far as the knife found in Raffaele Sollecito's house – the weapon prosecutors argue proves Knox's guilt – Burleigh refutes that as well.

"The knife was just something a cop picked out of a kitchen drawer because it looked large."

SO WHAT HAPPENED TO MEREDITH KERCHER?

Burleigh called Kercher's death a "simple crime," saying the woman was murdered after she confronted an intruder.

"What's factual is somebody threw a rock through a window, somebody broke in."

Burleigh believes Kercher came home when the intruder thought he was alone and, "bam, they confronted each other."

soundoff(57 Responses)

I agree that this is a simple case! We have a person who "admitted" to the crime and Amanda has "no" physical evidence of being there. The Italian government needs to stand up and admit they were wrong!! PERIOD.

The new Nencini report is entirely logical (unlike the Hellmann joke). People who don't understand the Italian procedures don't understand these Judges' reports. the guilty verdicts are sound and will be upheld by the Supreme Court.

"When prosecutors make mistakes they don't like to turn around and admit it."
(And yet, the prosecutor in Perugia was responsible for releasing innocent Patrick, after it was proven that Knox lied to the police)
investigative journalist? I don't think so.
the stupidest comment from Burleigh is the one about "when a stranger comes to town something happens . . . " – WTH? what universe is she living in? it is so stupid I need not elaborate.

Don't you mean to say "The prosecutor who appears to have coerced Knox into falsely implicating poor Patrick eventually released him from custody because said prosecutor was standing under the spotlight of the entire European news media, with egg all over his face, after having very publicly arrested an innocent man"?

the prosecutor initially on the case had nothing to do with letting Knox go. it's funny how Knox's own defence lawyers never pushed these allegations of coercion isn't it; we know exactly why – because it didn't happen.

May 14, 2014 at 9:07 pm |

Shaolinfingajab

Investigative Journalist, where??

Evidence that convicted Amanda Knox & Raffale Sollecito.

– Amanda placing herself in the cottage when the murder took place.
– Drops of Meredith's blood were found in 4 places in the bathroom
– On the light switch.
– The toilet seat cover.
– The door
– The bathmat.
– Knox's blood was found on the tap of the wash basin.
– A mixture of the two women's DNA was found in three places:
– On the cotton bud box,
– The side of basin
– The bidet.
– No trace of Guede's DNA was found in the small bathroom.
– Sollecito footprint in Merediths blood on the bath mat.
– Sollecitos DNA found on Merediths bra clasp, in Merediths room
– Knoxs DNA found on murder knife in Sollecitos Apartment. Meredith had never been there. Sollecito in hearing this, tried to create an alibi, by saying Meredith had been cooking at his & he had accidentally pricked her finger. She had never been to his apartment.
– Merediths DNA found on murder knife. Court appointed experts conti and vecchiotti conceded it was Merediths.
– Professor Gill said it was Merediths DNA.
– Knox DNA mixed with Merediths DNA in footprints.
She claims that when she discovered that all the towels in the bathroom were missing she decided to use the bloody bathmat as a sliding surface to return to her room. She claims her foot slid off the bathmat and that could be how she got Meredith's blood mixed with her DNA.
On her blog in 2014, she discredits this, by saying, she abounded the idea of the bathmat sliding manoeuvre, as it was achieving nothing.
– A staged break in.
– None of Guedes DNA was found in the alleged break in room.
– Knox DNA & Merediths DNA mixed in the alleged break in room.
Merediths blood had been tracked into the alleged break in room, after Meredith had been murdered, by Knox.
– Accusing an innocent man of murder & rape.
– Not withdrawing the accusation.
– In recorded conversations with her mom, she was heard to say, Patrick is innocent. She could not of know this.
– Her call to Edda at 04.00 Seattle time, before the discovery of Meredith.
Edda later question her & asked why she had called, when nothing had happened. Amanda replied she didn't remember calling her. She maintained this story of not remembering this phone call.
– Guede in an intercepted phone call, places Knox & Sollecito at the murder.
– Phone triangulation records, dispute Knox being in Sollecitos apartment.
– Computer records
– Phone records.
– Calumny conviction.

The list goes on. I am wondering, was Burleigh covering another crime, she perhaps got this one mixed up with. She certainly was not covering this, if her conclusions lead to no evidence.

However, it is a very short list of inferences which compel any intelligent, thinking person to recognize that Mignini et al. appear to have coerced Knox into implicating Lumumba because witnesses saw a black man running from the scene of the crime and Lumumba was a black man connected to the victim through her roommate (Knox). Of course, once Lumumba was very publicly arrested and it turned out that the black man who actually did commit the murder was not Lumumba, then Mignini had a very serious problem on his hands since he was already under indictment for illegal wiretapping and official misconduct. Coercing a 19 year-old exchange student into making false accusations against an innocent man could have very easily led to yet another indictment of official misconduct for Mignini, as well as for his team of investigators. Therefore, it was absolutely necessary that he tie Knox to the crime, no matter how absurdly. Otherwise, it was his arse that was going to prison.

Sorry, but I do put some responsibly on Amanda for falsely accusing her boss (because of he was black). I don't care how scared she was or what kind of pressure the police put on her. Her false statement came very close to destroying that man's life permanently. Truly good people don't knowingly ruin innocent lives. Murderer or not, she's a selfish, bad person.

May 13, 2014 at 9:52 pm |

Logic and sense

it would have been great for the defence at trial if they had proven coercion, yet they didn't even try to. gee, I wonder why? because their client is a liar and it never happened.

May 14, 2014 at 9:09 pm |

prattstreet

in response to Shaolinfngajab list of drive, note that Fact One: All the evidence from the locked Meredith Kercher bedroom – the DNA, the shoe prints, the finger prints, the palm prints, and the other evidence – points to one and only one depraved man as the killer, namely sociopathic burglar Rudy Guede. Raffaele Sollecito and Amanda Knox were not involved. The Mignini conjured strands of pseudo evidence have been discredited a panel of neutral Italian experts as well as numbers of international forensic experts.

Ms. Kercher had her last meal at 6 PM. It takes two to four hours to digest a meal. When she died the food had not yet passed into the small intestine of Ms. Kercher. This leaves the time of death of Ms. Kercher between 9 and 9:30 PM. on November 1, 2007. Sollectio's labtop computer indicates that the movie Ms. Knox and Mr. Sollecito were watching at the Sollecito apartment, "Amelie" ended 9:15 PM. And visitor who briefly visited them at 8:40 PM saw both Ms. Knox and Mr. Sollecito

this woman has not read a thing about the crime whatsoever, so I dont know what she was doing in all the years she said she was studying the case. Almost everything she said is not accurate and she was probably bought from Amandas PR team.

Even the knife evidence is a joke. It tested negative for blood, human cells, and DNA. Dr. Stefanoni went through the whole testing procedure anyway and got a match with Kercher's DNA with her triply negative sample. So she changed one of the negative test results to positive and handed the results to the prosecution.

Three years later the court appointed experts caught her and said this:

". . . it is not possible to comprehend the criteria adopted in the assessment of the positive quantification result for sample B and the negative result for sample C, given that the same result, “too low”, was obtained for both samples . . ."

They meant it is not possible to comprehend the "positive" result unless you assume Stefanoni is a criminal.

Mixed DNA on knife Mixed DNA on Bidet Mixed DNA on Bra Clasp need More? Cell Phone activity. Computer activity Lies Lack of alibi by Sollecito who said Knox left his place which she used as an alibi (NOT). Bloody footprints proving scientifically it was Sollecitos Read the evidence See the Hi resolution photographs of the blood outline of the knife on the bed sheet Check the shoe print underneath Kerchers body that matches Knox completely. Knox deposited the same amount of money in her account as was stolen from Kercher. If Kercher had complained Knox would have been thrown into jail. Witnesses. Staged break in. Impossible to throw rock through windows with shutters half jammed shut with the rain. Why the cleanup? Need more? phone calls from Sollecito's father never answered. Sollecito's father saying Sons book all fiction. there was not three trials but only appeals. Double jeopardy does not apply. If you can get around all this evidence then she's innocent but she's not she's guilty.

Italy is a Corrupt country, believe or not , no difference than third world country, corruption ,pizzo,mafia,is in the culture,it is the way of life. Camorra, TRANGHETA, politicians, judges, it is all one mix spaghetti salad

i think after seeing all these amanda knox interviews and blogs in america i have come to understand that no anglo saxon American can be ever guilty of any crime regardless of the heinous nature of it. So the high court of Italy is wrong, Now the supreme court is also at fault. I mean how far can supporter of Amanda and also CNN go to justify her involvement in the murder. If they are not convinced with some of the evidences , then why dont they look into other evidences which incriminate her, such as her version of her whereabouts that nite which totally conflicted with Solecitto's, accusing an innocent man deliberatley and mixed blood of her and Meredith in the bathroom and the floor mat? If they question the highest court of Italy, then why dont they question the courts in america, in gray- zone judgements like Zimmerman, Anthony Casey.She is indicted twice and yet she gets so much attention in the Media. In otherwords, she is being given chance by CNN to justify her innocence!. It goes to show how biased CNN is. Why doesnt this CNN interviewer invite Meredith Kercher's family to come on CNN ? I am starting to believe that US is stll a prejudiced country and that CNN is a biased channel. I am going to stop watching this channel from now on. Becuz i cant stand Intellectuals , being prejucided. I always thought that racism and prejudice pervails only in low socio economic and uneducated population. Whether she is extradited on not, she will have this murder gulit on her conscience for rest of her life. Also she will never be able to step out her racist countrty, USA for the rest of her life, becuz of interpol. Shame on u CNN! i am not ur customer any more

Travesties of justice occur in America just as they occur in Italy. Perhaps the best example relevant to this case is the Norfolk Four travesty which occurred in Virginia. I suggest you study this case thoroughly before you make any more inane comments about the Knox case, or about the potential for Anglo-Saxon Americans to be found "guilty of any crime regardless of the heinous nature of it." (Incidentally, there is an excellent streaming documentary about the Norfolk case on PBS's FRONTLINE website.)

See a great documentary by the BBC on Youtube called "‪Is Amanda Knox Guilty?‬" https://www.youtube.COM/watch?v=RS9PtoLiM4M Also on Youtube there is an excellent reenactment of the crime called "‪Amanda Knox – Murder On Trial In Italy" https://www.youtube.COM/watch?v=a4LtvJ8515s. This case is all is explained very clearly in these two TV movies.‬

I thought I would also add that I have an English mother and an Italian mother, and I have lived in Australia for thirty years. I am not American, and have no reason to make my comments based on my race or nationality. Again, it's ridiculous to make any of these comments as "anti' American, or "anti" Italian, or anything else. This is about male violence about women, and this journalist is spot on.

Amanda Knox is the victim of a truly sexist, foul culture, and Meredith Kercher is an even bigger victim of it. Instead of looking at the real statistics – the FACTS that violent crimes against young women are almost always committed by men, the judiciary went off on a fantasy. It involved the notion of the black widow, the femme fetale, and this, in turn, made a victim out of poor Raffaele, through the 'myth' that men can be so much under a woman's 'spell' that they can be enticed to terrible things to others.This is s truly shocking travesty of justice that should simply not be permitted to take place in a first world country that has signed all kinds of agreements involving human rights. Italy is behaving like a savage and barbaric culture that is still willing to use a medieval approach to justice, when it really does know better!

Rudy was caught broken into a nursery school in Milan. He had stolen property from a law firm in Perugia (two laptops) in his possession. The burglar had entered by throwing a rock through a second story window and then climbing through.

Actually, Dersh seemed to have speaking to the potential of the verdict as based upon the evidence taken at face value. In other words, Dersh was saying that Knox and Sollecito could be re-convicted assuming all interpretation of the evidence remains the same.

Still, I'm quite surprised that Dersh, as an esteemed appellate attorney and Harvard law professor, did not offer more insightful commentary on the case. Indeed, his opinions thus far inclines one to suspect that either he is biased against Knox because of her ethnic profile and her having falsely accused a person of an ethnic profile for whom he would like to be known as a legal champion, or perhaps, more incredibly, that the prosecutor in the Knox case, during his prior alleged illegal wiretapping escapades, may have inadvertently obtained some compromising information on Dersh. Of course, it is also possible that Dersh has gotten a little too long in the tooth these days and his legal acumen is not what it used to be. One thing is certain: Dersh has thus far seemed more like a legal hack just graduated from some online law school, or an ethically bankrupt prosecutor with no shame whatsoever, than he does a renowned and respectable philosopher of law.

My favorite part of the motivation report is the section where they acknowledge there was no DNA of Amanda and Sollecito in the house so they made the Orwellian argument that the only logic explanation was there had to be a clean up. You can't make this up.

Why are you asking a journalist instead of a HArvard Law Professor? Prof. Alan Dershowitz says the evidence against Knox is "strong" and that if she'd been tried on this evidence in America, she'd have been convicted. I'm tired of watching CNN roll over for people that have long been a part of Knox's PR campaign. Burleigh has been cozy with Team Knox for too long.

Yes, but Dershowitz is unfamiliar with the details of the crime. I saw one of his interviews and he made a number of mistakes. Burleigh has thoroughly researched this case and wrote a book about it. Why shouldn't they ask her?

If Amanda Knox would simply explain and try to prove where she was and what she was doing on the evening of Meredith Kercher's very unfortunate death, she would not have to keep trying to explain her innocence.

Nina forgets the small foot print on the pillow, the victim's DNA on the knife. The standout sample of RS's DNA on the bent hook and Amanda's desk lamp on the floor. ALL of this points to Amanda. The other comment brings up a small typo made in the report. The judge explains at length about the findings of Amanda's and the victim's DNA on the blade he makes no mention of RS. That was a simple error in the last paragraph, nothing to hang your hope on.

Burleigh has produced a strange book about Knox being some kind of beauty queen whose incredible good looks meant she was doomed to be found guilty...And Burleigh accuses Italians of being backward!!!! Burleigh, who does not speak a word of Italian, is desperately trying to protect her ridiculous theory because it means more blood money for her. Just like Knox, she views a young women's vile murder by three drugged up criminals as a chance to make money. Burleigh is wicked and immoral.

I agree with the above article intirely. From what I have red about the whole case was that the whole offair had been botched from the word go. I mean yes I feel sorry for the family of the murdered girl, but I also believe, that Neither Amanda knox, or her Italian boy friend killed her. The dastidly deed was done by 1 guy, and no other! Plus, the police carried out the investigations very sloppally, Evidence was neglected, the correct proseadure for collecting the same was not carried out, hense, no gloves etc. I believe in Knox's and her former bf's inossence, the only thing the Italian justiss system did right was to aquit them on the second trile. The whole offair was poorly carried out.

Knox and Burligh are racist bitches who always blame the black guy. Just like Susan Smith. and when that is not enough they blame all of Italy. Tell me? is this some huge conspiracy by Italy. Knox is a drug addict who is guilty of murder and the sooner she is the jail cell she deserves the better

If the burglary wasn't staged, why were the shards of glass ON TOP OF the clothes and objects strewn around the room?
who would have a motive to fake a burglary making it seem like an outsider when it really wasn't?

And the answer is: "Not only was Lumumba's alibi a man of considerable credibility, but Guede's fingerprints and DNA were all over the crime scene while Lumumba's was not; and all this was revealed under the glaring spotlight of the European news media. Therefore, the prosecutor had to release Lumumba and clear him of all charges. Otherwise, he would be facing yet another indictment for Official Misconduct."
.
However, the BILLION dollar question is "Why would Knox have implicated Lumumba at all?" Could she not have just as easily said the same things about Guede as she did about Lumumba, and have been no less indictable?"
.
Hmmm… I wonder who may have motivated Knox to make such arcane statements of culpability against Lumumba when she could have made the same arcane statements against Guede with no less possibility of self-incrimination, but considerably more potential for exoneration since she would have been accusing someone who was actually guilty of the crime, thus establishing credibility with the prosecutor and his team of investigators?
.
Hmmm… Could it be that Knox was coerced by Mignini et al. into implicating Lumumba because witnesses saw a black man running from the scene of the crime and Lumumba was a black man connected to the victim through her roommate (Knox)?
.
Hmmm… Could it be that Knox's apparently coerced implication of Lumumba evinces "consciousness of innocence" since she would have had no reason whatsoever to place Lumumba at the scene if placing the actually guilty black man, namely, Guede, would have been the easiest and most obvious thing to do; therefore implying that she, like Lumumba, was never present at the time Kercher was murdered and would have had no more knowledge of Guede being there than Lumumba or anyone else?

They never "admitted they made a mistake." They blamed the whole thing on Amanda. Apparently, they think it's her fault that they didn't investigate Patrick properly before forcefully arresting him in front of his family and neighbors.

Italian court behaved like a teenager making excuse to his parent. So the sex game went wrong didn't work. He invented fighting for money. Ridiculous. When I was a college kid with my roommate from a middle class background, just like these two girls, it was not our behavioral pattern–fighting for money then killing. It sounds so ridiculous. I know next time the Italian court will invent another scenario–saying there was a love triangle. The two girls fought for the Italian boy. Ridiculous.

Burleigh is absolutely right. The only matter in question is just WHY Rudy Guede broke into the cottage, but the entry was his signature and only he was inside when Meredith came home and locked herself in with her killer. Nobody else was present during the murder or for more than 12 hours afterward: Rudy did it all. Knox and Sollecito were NEVER inside the murder room at any time during or ever after the crime.

The full motivations of the police, prosecutors and judges may be a bit more complicated, however. Crimes and criminal "investigations" do not happen in a vacuum. This murder occurred with a context: geographical – political – temporal. Other things were happening just before this murder, and other things also have happened around the time of or just after every major event in the case. It is only by studying these other "coincidental" occurrences that the full context of this murder can be understood and the motivations of various individuals deduced.

Before the next CNN coverage of the Amanda Knox story, I urge, whoever writes the news, to read The Monster of Florence, a book based on a true story, by bestselling author Douglas Preston. The story is about a series of murders that took place in Florence, Italy, located in the Perugia district, the district in which Amanda Knox was living.

The judge and prosecutor who presided at these trials was Giuliano Mignini, who also participated in the Amanda Knox trial. In the Monster of Florence trials, Mignini submitted evidence against the accused based on his personal opinion. In the last chapter or epilogue of the book, Douglas Preston comments on the murder of Meredith Kercher and Mignini’s incompetent investigations and the basis for his evidence and Mignini’s refusal to admit mistakes, etc., etc.

The Fatal Gift Of Beauty is one of the best documentaries I have ever read. It is based on the trial testimony as well as interviews with the participants over 2 years Ms Burleigh lived in Perugia. I urge everyone who has not read this book to please read it.

I wholeheartedly agree with the assessment of Nina Burleigh. The nightmare began with the declaration by the police and prosecution the case was closed prior to any review of physical evidence. From there the evidence is gathered and analyzed to fit the wild theories of the prosecution. 6-1/2 years later justice continues to be perverted.

This latest motivation is a farce. There has never been any evidence that Amanda & Meredith’s relationship was anything like what is being said. If they can’t prove one absurd motive, just pick another. It’s so obvious that Amanda & Raffaele are innocent. This has nothing to do with Justice for Meredith. Someone needed to redeem his reputation and the ISC is furthering that quest by completely Ignoring facts. Given the questionable to unreliable to non-existent evidence Italian justice breached the boundary of their own code!

I have now read the motivation in its entirety and I can say that it is a farce at best. We thought Massei was absurd but this takes the cake. There is nothing concrete about this motivation. In fact they’ve made things up! There was no Raffaele DNA on the knife but there is now? I could go on and on but this is a complete farce.

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